Welcome to Patricia Youngquist, The Last Leaf Gardener's blog. I'm a photo-artist, bird-lover and urban gardener living in NYC. I'm also an author with a published book series, "Words In Our Beak." The stories are told by Cam, the bird pictured above. For info click on images 1-3 in the sidebar (L). My website (Patriciayoungquist.com.) mainly features my non-nature themed images (Black and White as well as Kaleidoscopic). Click on the 4th image in sidebar (L) to visit.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Holy Cow!

It has been said that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. I'm not sure if God — upon hearing my plans — laughs, but I am certain that my muse does!

For there are many times that I have an idea of what I want to write about, and then something happens that changes my intention.

This past Friday, April1st, was one of those days! I was about to sit down and write about a crabapple tree I bought in hopes of attracting Cam's (my dearly departed cardinal) children to my garden.

I edited my images, I had my text in mind, when suddenly I heard on the news that a cow/bull had escaped from a slaughter house in Queens (a borough of NYC).

"The NYPD said the 'vicious animal' fled as it was being taken down from a truck in the vicinity of Liberty Blvd (near the slaughter house) around 10 a.m. and then wandered onto CUNY York College (in Queens).

"Less than an hour later, the fugitive bull, now known as 'Frank' was detained. The bovine animal was first taken to an Animal Care Center facility in Brooklyn, police said.

"Witnesses at the scene told PIX11 the bull belonged to Jamaica Archer Live Poultry and Meat Market on 165th Street.

"The former host of the Daily Show and his wife Tracey have picked up the bull and transferred it to an animal safe haven in Watkins Glen, New York, a Farm Sanctuary spokesperson said. Stewart and his wife have partnered with Farm Sanctuary, a national organization dedicated to protecting farm animals from cruelty." (For reference click here.)

As some of you know, my "normal" rhetoric is centered around the antics of birds but I have always loved cows, and as a result have not eaten their meat since grade school years!

In fact, in bygone years, cows were the subject of some of my black and white photographs, including the image seen here.

I was very saddened by the panic the cow/bull experienced and quite moved by his tenacity in trying to escape being slaughtered.

But ultimate rescue of the cow/bull who escaped is a story to be shared and celebrated. A video featuring this can be viewed by clicking here.